Category: apples and pears

For this project called “apples and pears” we were asked to work as a product designer to create an imaginative packaging design for a fruit or vegetable that we were assigned at random. We were given the opportunity to gain an understanding of the design development process. We were creating the work for a client such as a super market and we were there to try and sell our designs of our fruit or vegetable as best as we could. For this project we were given four college weeks and one week during half term to complete the project. The unit that we were working towards was “Unit 10- Characteristics and contexts in art and design.”

One of the first things we did was gather packaging research. We did this by going into Kendal and going through various different shops to look at any packaging there was to use as inspiration and initial examples.

After we had gathered information from the shops of Kendal we then went onto researching our own specific fruit or vegetable. I did this initially by drawing and taking pictures of the fruit that I was given which was a plum. After writing all the basic characteristics of it such as, colour, texture, size, shape and weight I then went onto cutting it open and then writing down anything there was to write such as its internal colour, smell, taste, moisture and then any information about the seed as well.

In my design I didn’t revolve it around the fruit too much but I did keep the fruits colour and the shiny and smooth texture it has within the design.

I was only able to attend one of the three extra workshops that were on during the course due to complications with travel, but the one I was able to attend was a fonts workshop which showed us different types of techniques and methods for creating our own fonts. The workshop helped me understand how to use the different tools in illustrator to create fonts such as the ones in the image below. We made these fonts by using illustrator effects and using all the different paint, drawing and shape tools to build upon letters and to take elements away. I also learned how to masks and multiple layers to use images within fonts. Even though I don’t use font that often, These methods and tools can still be used to edit other things such as images, designs and diagrams so I found this workshop really helpful.

There were also several workshops during the course that were mandatory such as a Maquette, repeat pattern and a rendering workshop. Out of all of these workshops I found the rendering the most useful because I mostly work with pens, pencils and paints. So a workshop that showed us how to use those tools to create a good looking rendered drawing was really useful for this project and in general.

Initially I had several ideas and one idea that I was set on but ended up ditching. One idea was to replicate an old wooden beer create and then to fill it with unique glass jars that all had plums stored inside. Another idea was to make a big, glass plum that acted as a jar for plums, so the lid was the top of the plum that could be pulled off and the whole thing was translucent with a purple tint. another idea was to simply create a tube like a tennis ball tube but that seemed far too boring. Twice within the projects weeks we’d go through peer assessment where we’d talk about each others ideas and then give them feedback on what we thought they could do to improve their ideas.

The feedback that I got was very useful, I was given different ideas on how to represent the crate and what it should be made out of and how i should interpret the plum more into the package. For example one suggestion was to have the word plum carved out of the wood or the material that I was going to use for the package, another idea was the make the less spherical designs more plum shaped so they could replicate the plum more.

In the end I decided to develop an idea that I wasn’t one of my main ideas but once I thought about it more I started to like the idea more and more. The idea was to create a octagonal prism and to have each of the eight sides to have its own separate compartment.

For the final model I used an A2 piece of card which I drew the shapes net out on but it was difficult to get everything in line which. After I had draw it out I simply cut out the net using a Stanley knife. I stuck the whole thing together with glue and then covered the whole maquette with a repeat pattern that I made earlier on in the project. It could’ve been a lot better if I had included all the separate windows of the chambers as well within the maquette just by cutting them out but I feel that the model that I made was too small for that. I was also thinking of implementing a refrigerating element to the design. The core of the prism is empty at the moment so I decided that that would be where all the refrigerating equipment would go.

For the orthographic drawing I used illustrator and very basic shapes because even thought the design is an octagonal prism when in the front and side profiles, its simply made up of rectangles and octagons which weren’t very complicated to make. I then used red lines and arrows to show the lengths of a majority of the sides. We were taught how to make these drawings in a workshop where we were taught how to use the different tools and shapes and what is needed to make an accurate orthographic drawing.

The perspective drawing was the hardest part of the final design process because the prism had really complicated proportions so it was hard to get them right. This was because the octagons on each end of the prism are a lot harder to get into proportion then say a triangle. So by using the methods I learned during the perspective drawing that used multiple triangles to get the right points.

What I like about my final piece is how it is simple but is a little bit complicated and overall I’m happy with my final design even if it isn’t very practical for home purposes.I think that the package works well with plums even if it doesn’t represent it very well. I think it works well with plums because each chamber is just big enough to fit twelve plums all in a line which means that in total it can hold 96 plums which is a lot but this product wasn’t meant to be for households but instead for supermarkets and in the shops where they will be stored,

For the Maquette designs I made two of them, the first was a simple and small net that I simple copied out just so I could see how the design would look. The design looked pretty good to me so I decided to go ahead and make a much larger one that I used a A2 piece of card to make. I stuck to a 1:2 scale when I made this model so everything is in proportion. To make the net I simply used a ruler, pencil and a protractor. After I had cut the net out and made the octagonal prism I printed out multiple sheets of a repeat pattern I had previously made and covered the maquette with the pattern.

Overall I’m quite happy with the design but I could of made the design far more accurate because the actual design would of had windows on each of the sides which would have been glass or plastic doors. But the scale was too small to cut out the windows because there wasn’t enough space to do something like that. So if I was to re-create the maquette I’d use a 1:1 scale so there is enough space and cut out the windows to make the maquette more accurate. I would also paint the maquette instead of using a repeat pattern because I want to design to be a block or multiple shades of a colour, but just something more simple.

For my perspective drawing I drew two different designs because i hadn’t decided what design I wanted yet so I did both. The first drawing was of a design that was a simple tube that has a flat side so that it could balance horizontally. The top half would be a plastic/glass lid that could be opened up to access the 4-6 plums.

For the second design I drew the design I wanted to create initially which was the design that was made out of a octagonal prism that had eight separate chambers that all have their own doors.

After drawing both of the perspective drawings i cam to the conclusion that I’m going to use the octagonal prism because the design is far more interesting and in general I prefer that design far more because its more complex.

For the design process I came up with four design ideas, two of them are very simple and two of them are a bit more interesting. After I came up with the four designs I then asked for criticism and feedback off several friends. I’ve now taken their suggestions into consideration and I know now which design I’m going to use for the final piece.

The first design in the image below is very simple because it is simple a cube that has a door that opens outwards by using folds. The box will only hold one or two plums and it has a window on one of the sides so the inside is viewable. the main shell will be made out off a thin wood or a thick card. I also want to make the main case a purple colour similar to a plum and to have the word “plum” on the side in a flowing font. From the criticism I learnt that I should come up with a more interesting way for the box to open, for example four panels opening out of the top instead of just one door on the side. I was also told that if I’m going to use a fancy font for the writing then the cube should have a more detailed and fancier pattern or style such as a wooden pattern to make it look authentic.

In the second design that Is in the image below I created another simple design which Is essentially a cylinder that has a lid on the top that also uses a hinge. like the previous design this design also has a window but it holds 4-6 plums which all stack on top of each other. The window will be made out of a translucent plastic which has a tint of purple while the has will be made out of preferably, a thick card which will probably either have a purple design to it as well or it’ll have one of my repeat patterns on it. During the criticism I was advised that i should try and make the cylinder more plum shaped so I’m thinking of taking a plums shape and then stretching to make it a cylinder. They also said that instead of having the lid on the top i could have the product horizontal so one of the sides would have to be flat and then have the window as the lid so the whole plastic/glass window will pull outwards from the top or bottom or one of the sides by using hinges, so it would basically be a pod but I really liked this idea.

The first design that is in the image below i used a design that I had already mentioned before, but its basically a big glass plum that has a vacuum sealed lid that can be pulled of like a cookie jar. the product can hold anywhere from 10 plums to 50 depending on how big i decided to make it. the whole plum will be a thick translucent glass that will have a tint of purple to make it look more like a plum.

A Orthographic drawing is a layout of a product that shows a front view, Birdseye view and a profile view of the product. These diagrams also have all the measurements of everything that is on the diagram. The drawing should also have a perspective drawing so that the manufacturers know what the final outcome should look like. There should also be some information on the sheet which includes a title, name, date and ratio/scale. Orthographic drawings are made by the designers and are made for the manufacturers so that the manufacturers know all the measurements, angles and ratios for everything for the product.

A lot of everyday objects will of had a Orthographic drawing for them before the manufacturers make them. For example, any object that was mass produced such as any furniture, cars, electrical devices (e.g. phones, printers, microwaves) will have a orthographic drawing for them. These orthographic drawings won’t be made until the end of a project because it is the last thing that needs to be made. The drawings can’t be made until all designs have been verified and the client is happy with the design that the designer has made and all finalization’s are made, and only then can a Orthographic drawing can be made. Also to make a orthographic drawing the designer needs to have a understanding of how Illustrator works and how to used it in order to make their own orthographic drawings.

For our lesson we were asked to create a orthographic drawing of the object that we were all set. First we collected our data by measuring all the sides of the object and anything else on the object that needed measuring as well, such as the diameter of the Circle. We then used illustrator to make the orthographic drawing by mostly using the shape tools and plugging in the measurements for those shapes. After we had all the viewpoints done we then used red lines and arrows to show the measurements on the drawing and then labeling them with there measurement. I thought that creating the orthographic drawings would be boring but I actually enjoyed it because the end drawing looked good, neat and tidy. Although there could have been some improvements, for example All the arrows aren’t the same size so that could be altered and all the measurements aren’t central on their lines so that could also be fixed. Apart from that, I’m happy with the outcome of my orthographic drawing and I’d be comfortable making another one on my own showing of my own designs.